Raila Odingas message to Kenyans one year to elections

CORD leader Raila Odinga has issued a lengthy message to Kenyans exactly one year to the 2017 General Election.

In a statement to newsrooms on Monday, August 8th, Odinga called on Kenyans to be wary of the future they want and register as voters ahead of the next polls.

“August 8 marks the start of the one-year countdown to our second General Election under the 2010 Constitution. We have 364 days to go,” read the statement in part.

“We must register as voters through the continuous process even as we pursue processes to ensure the credibility of the voter register and that in the end all votes will count and all votes will be counted.”

He also called for concerted efforts by all Kenyans to ensure the next elections are free and fair in a bid “to ensure a stable future for the country and strengthen democracy”.

Further, the CORD principal called on the country to keenly interrogate Jubilee’s development record and the direction they have taken over the four year period.

“We must also embark on a critical review of the past four years, especially the promises made by the Jubilee regime against delivery, the general state and direction of the country today as compared to the same period before last elections and what we must do to ensure a better country and a more accountable and inclusive government in 2017.”

“It is particularly important for us to understand the link between what the government has embarked on in recent weeks as nothing other than partisan campaigns.”

He said that Jubilee cannot fulfill pledges it made to Kenyans in the run up to the 2013 elections in the remaining period of their leadership, calling on Kenyans to hold the government to account.

“We must make Jubilee account for its old promises before it starts making new ones. We must also fact-check and be sure what Jubilee claims to have delivered actually exist on the ground and that the same are not just refurbished Grand Coalition Government projects.”

As the clock ticks several concerns have been raised over the preparedness of the country ahead of the next polls.

The existence of IEBC, which is the body mandated to oversee the elections is already in limbo with the commissioners last week agreed to leave office following pressure from CORD which was marked with six weekly of protests.

CORD had claimed that the IEBC commissioners cannot be trusted to hold the next elections following allegation of chicken gate touching on certain commissioners. In the scandal, the accused persons are alleged to have received bribes from a UK firm to award them tender for the supply of BVR kits and ballot papers.

The commissioners are also accused of working with Jubilee to ensure the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in exchange for a soft landing at the expiry of their term in December next year.

The commissioners’ pronouncement last week, however, paves way for a process that may result in an overhaul of the commission with Jubilee already suggesting that former Anglican archbishop Eliud Wabukala takes up the electoral agency’s chairmanship.

@benjaminwafula